History

Sean Adams|Evidence

Mary Blair: The Grand Canyon Concourse Mural

Mary Blair’s Grand Canyon Concourse mural in the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World is a super-graphic that transforms the architecture.

Louise Sandhaus|Essays

Her Story Meets His Story: Janet Bennett, Charles Kratka, and the LAX Murals

In any case, this story is complicated.

Sean Adams|Evidence

Phyllis Tanner

“It is a cut-throat business. Be good at negotiating. It is not just about ART.”

Sean Adams|Slideshows

Pan Am: History, Design, & Identity

Matthias Huhne tells the story of the world’s largest airline for much of the 20th century with images, printed artifacts, and the Pan Am identity.

The Editors|Collections

Women in Design History

March is Women’s History Month, and all month long Design Observer will be celebrating historical women and women making history in visual culture.

Eric Holzenberg|Essays

The Aesthetic Movement

The role of printing in the Aesthetic Movement.

Sean Adams|Evidence

Jennifer Morla: El Museo Mexicano, 1995

As a designer, does the work we create subjugate and presume superiority over another culture, or does it attempt to authentically represent it?

Sean Adams|Evidence

Marget Larsen

Marget Larsen’s design work bridged post-war American modernism and 1960s hedonist psychedelia.

Antonio Alcalá|Essays

Looking Harlem in the Eye

Designer Antonio Alcalá explains his strategy for creating the exhibition catalogue for the Harlem Heroes: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten exhibit at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum

Ken Gordon|Essays

Recognizing the Designer’s Ego

Designers, on the whole, are a humble lot; they have high standards and a great sense of professional pride, but they know the ethical and economic implications of bragging, and they avoid it. Ego is traditionally the prerogative of, …

Sean Adams|Evidence

Will Burtin

Will Burtin was a graphic designer with no sense or boundaries in media.

Michael Bierut|Essays

Lella Vignelli

In my ten years at Vignelli Associates, I came to understand the relationship between the two brilliant designers who ran the office. Massimo would tend to play the role of idea generator. Lella served as the critic, editing the ideas and …